Thursday, June 27, 2013

The Daring Bakers - Crack Pie for The Life of Pi Challenge

Have you ever got caught up in the hype of something and been desperate to try it because everyone else in the whole world except you seems to have tried it and deemed it good? At the moment, the "in" thing is cronuts - every other day there is an article in the newspaper or a TV story about cronuts. Apparently, there is even a black market for cronuts. If I decide that I really have to try a cronut, I will skip the black market and make my own.A couple of years back, Momofuku Milk Bar's crack pie was the cronut of today - everybody had to have it. Bon Appetit says about Crack Pie, "Anyone who has taken a bite of this Milk Bar best seller immediately knows the reason for the sassy name. Once you start eating this rich, salty-sweet pie with its oat cookie crust, you won't be able to stop." I have read about crack pie on plenty of blogs, but as New York is a long way away, and a single pie costs $44, I won't be having the real thing anytime soon. However, never fear ...Rachael from pizzarossa was our lovely June 2013 Daring Bakers’ host and she had us whipping up delicious pies in our kitchens! Cream pies, fruit pies, chocolate pies, even crack pies! There’s nothing like pie! One of the recipe options that Rachael gave to us is the Bon Appetit recipe for crack pie. This gave me the opportunity after all this time to finally find out about crack pie for myself. Looks good, doesn't it:

It's hard to explain what crack pie is like, but unchilled, it really is like pecan pie without the pecans (as someone else suggested), and chilled, it is like caramel fudge pie. The pie has an oat cookie crust that melds into a brown sugar toffee-like substance when the pie is filled and baked, and the filling really does taste like caramel fudge.I almost didn't make this because milk powder here costs a squillion and the smallest bag you can buy is 1kg (what ever happened to small cans of Sunshine Milk Powder?) when all I needed was a tablespoon to make the pie, but I relented on the basis that as the cost of a crack pie is $44 from Momofuku, I am still ahead.And the verdict? I liked this pie - in fact I liked it better warm than chilled (which is how it is meant to be served). However, I haven't developed an addiction to it - I prefer good old fashioned caramel tart.To see what the other Daring Bakers made this month, you can take a look at the slide show on the Daring Bakers website on the 27th, US East Coast time.

Sounds interesting but a can of condensed milk for caramel tart is more realistic for me - what I hate about the big bags of milk powder is that I buy it for one thing and then it sits and gets old and takes up space and I feel bad throwing it out

My friend made this for dessert when I went for Christmas dinner. Delish! I have been meaning to make it myself. With all the leftover milk powder, you'll have to make this again (and again). At that point, you might become addicted.

I think I must be really out of the loop - I hadn't heard of cronuts OR this pie! On looking at them, I think I'd like this more than the cronut, and think I'd like it a lot. I'm impressed at how good yours looks :)

I've had the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook for months now and I keep telling myself I have to make this pie, but then something comes up and I never get the time. It's on my to-do list though! Yours looks beautiful.